Viennese Concert Cafés

Enjoy live music and tasty treats at Vienna’s concert cafés

In Vienna, visit Schönbrunn Palace’s Café-Restaurant Residenz for live music and a taste of the imperial bakery.

With a long legacy of great composers and music history, Vienna offers a great number of ways to enjoy something musical. For a unique music experience in the city, visit one of Vienna’s concert cafés, where visitors can pair apple strudel with piano music, jazz, or classic Viennese song. The following are just a few tourism board-recommended spots that offer a regular program of music.

The concert café Schmid Hansl offers a broad range of performances, from Viennese Songs (Wienerlied) to jazz, blues, musicals, operetta, folk, and brass music. For music with a view, visit Café Cobenzl, on a hill in the Vienna woods above the town of Grinzing. Visitors will enjoy good cuisine and fine music along with beautiful views of the city.

Founded in about 1860, Café Schwarzenberg is the oldest café on the Ringstraße and offers piano concerts. Also on the Ringstraße is The Hotel Imperial, which dates back to 1873, and was popular with regular guest Sigmund Freud. Visitors today can order the Imperial Cake to enjoy with music played on the Bösendorfer grand piano. For more great piano on the Ringstraße, visit Café Prückel – located opposite the Museum for Applied Art – or Café Landtmann, where Paul McCartney has stopped in to hear a tune.

For a taste of the royal life, visit a palace café such as the Café-Restaurant Residenz at Schönbrunn Palace. The music takes place in the coffee house room upstairs, while the basement’s imperial bakery offers delightful Viennese delicacies. Alternately, visit the café-restaurant Meierei Schönbrunn in Schönbrunn Palace Park, for a feast of pastries set to music.

Other noteworthy venues include Café Bräunerhof, in the heart of the Old City antiques district, where the Bräunerhof Trio – comprised of violin, cello, and piano – plays a variety of tunes. The concert café Weimar, near the Volksoper, has been a popular meeting place for audiences and artists since 1900. Finally, Café Sperl offers an elegant atmosphere of marble tables and crystal chandeliers that perfectly suit its proximity to the nearby Theater an der Wien.